The Respecting Children and Young People Project was a time limited project that produced Fair and Equal Education: An Evidence-based Policy Manifesto that Respects Children and Young People, released on the 10 March 2015. The posts in this blog contributed towards the development of the manifesto, but they also act as important statements on recent issues affecting children and young people, informed by research undertaken by researchers from the British Educational Research Association. While we are no longer posting to this blog, the posts will be held on this site as an archive. Enjoy reading and sharing them with your colleagues, friends, family and students. We thank everyone who has contributed to the project.

Discussions about our education system all too often focus on the largest, most visible components of that system: the attainment of young people in mainstream schools. While debates about educational equity are at the forefront of current policy discourse, with the Pupil Premium explicitly targeting the gap between the attainment of young people receiving Free School Meals (FSM) and their peers, these discussions, too, are framed in terms of the relative performance of young people in mainstream schools. However, more than 20,000 pupils each year receive their education outside the mainstream system, through some form of ‘alternative provision’. Seldom do we turn our attention to these young people who, in Pat Thomson’s words, are “eased out, pushed out and kicked out of school.” Continue reading Renewing the focus on ‘pushed out’ learners→

post by STEVEN JONESSenior Lecturer, Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester

Here’s an excerpt from a UCAS personal statement written recently by an applicant to a Russell Group university:

There are various times where I have been a team member such as in hockey, this is where we have to understand our team member’s strengths and weaknesses to evaluate best positions, it makes us understand that one’s ability may be skilful but can always be tackled by two. We had to quickly judge aspects; we also understood how goals and motivation can go through team members, as high motivation can motivate another.

post by RUTH BOYASKOn behalf of the editors of the Respecting Children and Young People project

On the 10th March 2015, the Respecting Children and Young People project will be holding an event to launch the culmination of our work, the Fair and Equal Education manifesto. This manifesto has been shaped by the dialogue and engagement of members of six special interest groups (SIGs) within BERA, representing many hundreds of British educational researchers. We have come together because we, like many other voices at the present time, are concerned. Continue reading Fair and Equal Education→

post by SOL GAMSUDoctoral Researcher, Dept of Geography, King’s College London

Just before Christmas, one of my case study schools, in the provincial Northern city in my PhD study won a national school of the year award. Whilst it maintains a comprehensive intake, though as elsewhere this is less true after 16, its academic results are high, and the sixth form has a reputation for sending a significant numbers to the Russell Group and a handful to Oxbridge. As such it is similar in relative terms London’s ‘super state’ schools used by Gove, Cameron, the Blairs and others to avoid the political opprobrium of going private. The colonization of certain “comprehensive” schools in middle class neighbourhoods is common across the country. However, across the cities of Northern England, this strategy may be occurring more frequently with the post-crisis pressures on middle class incomes, entrenching the geographic divide around private schooling. Continue reading Geographies of class, place and education: Deepening North-South divisions in independent schooling→

I have read with interest and concern the Twitter debate generated by my blog “A Classroom Story” which was created as a counter-story. The characters William and the class teacher were representations of typical experiences composed from different accounts which were reported by Black male student teachers during a small scale research project in 2013. Continue reading Response to “A Classroom Story” Jasmine Rhamie→